


the shim sham

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Series: tumblr prompt fic [23]
Category: Ocean's Eleven Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-23 17:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21085304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.





	the shim sham

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misbegotten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbegotten/gifts).

> For misbegotten, who gave me the prompt: Danny/Rusty, classic movies.

They'd both complained, the first time Saul sat them down with a pile of videos from Blockbuster and made them watch old movies.

They'd been idiots then, teenagers with aspirations and improving skills, but not much in the way of style. (It was the eighties, so Danny was pretty sure it wasn't completely their fault.) 

But fifteen minutes into To Catch a Thief, Danny understood exactly what Saul was trying to tell them, and it had informed his work—his _life_—ever since. He couldn't get enough of Cary Grant, Clark Gable, William Powell, Gregory Peck. He went out and bought his first (sadly off the rack) suit after the first of those marathon sessions, and started to build his own reputation in their image.

Rusty found a later era—different, but still classic—fit him better; he emulated the easy cool of Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Steve McQueen, instead of the nonchalant elegance that Danny worked so hard to convey, but their goal was always the same.

It wasn't enough, in their line of work, to be a chameleon, to slip on characters the way other people put on clothes, not if they wanted to be the best and to be _remembered_ as the best.

"I don't see what the point of this is," Linus protested when Danny and Rusty insisted on a triple bill of Rififi, How to Steal a Million, and The Sting one rainy Sunday afternoon a few months after Danny'd been released. "Real life isn't like the movies."

"Isn't it?" Rusty asked, palming a fistful of popcorn before setting the bowl down on the coffee table.

"It's not just what we do," Danny said.

"It's the way that we do it," said Rusty. "That's what gets results."

Linus still looked skeptical, but Danny was sure that if Jules Dassin couldn't convince him to up his style game, Peter O'Toole would.

**Author's Note:**

> The shim sham is a set of dance steps used during the song "It AIn't What You Do..." which Danny and Rusty quote at Linus, and which also gives this story its summary.


End file.
